Surely, not a nice feeling for anyone involved -- besides for Mr. Tenkrat, that is.

Coach Lewis, in particular, lamented the need for such a shakeup on his team. Brookbank and Hoggan are two of the better liked men on the squad and had rolled with everything that the organization had had thrown at them.

"The unfortunate thing is that it falls on players that have done everything we’ve asked," said Lewis. "They’ve been physical…they’ve been sat out, and they’ve played hard."

"It’s the age old story. Are they responsible or are the rest of their teammates responsible?

"And that’s the thing that bothers me," he said.

Tenkrat, a right winger who has played seven games with the Baby B’s, notching a 2-7-9 line, is expected to play tonight for Boston.

The rest of the lineup is in flux -- in terms of lines and such. I would assume that Sturm, Bergeron and Boyes would stay together, as will Axelsson, Savard and Murray. I would venture a guess that Primeau, Kessel and Donovan will stick together, as well.

We’ll see on the other line and D-pairings, later.

Brad’s bruisedSome other news from the pre-game skate -- Brad Stuart has an undisclosed injury that may keep him out of the game versus the Senators.

"Well, he is coming off a blocked shot," said Coach. "And right now we’re at a 50/50 chance that he’ll be in tonight.

"It’s a bruise, but nothing to do with his original injury…it’s a swelling issue," Lewis explained.

Stuart was apparently hurt in the last game and kept playing.

"It doesn’t surprise me," said Lewis. "He’s a courageous, strong guy.

"Strong mentally, [too]. Those are the kind of players you win games with."

Deficit skatingThe Bruins are hoping to reverse a disturbing trend of going down early and having to claw their way back.

"It’s a bad way to play hockey games," said Dave Lewis of playing from behind. "It’s a losing way to play hockey games.

"We’ve come back and won, from behind, and I appreciate the effort, but I’d like to be able to start more games with that in mind.

"It’s not a healthy way to play hockey," he said.

Will there be any more moves, Coach?"Not today, if that is what you are getting at," said Head Coach Lewis. "Waivers, that’s all."

And the waivers have already happened.

Emotional Attachment to Ottawa"The guys were emotionally attached to that game," said Lewis when asked about the chippiness of the last Ottawa @ Boston game. "A team like theirs, they can play you any way [they want]. They’ve got big strong guys, they have tremendously skilled guys, and you do what you have to do to figure out how to win.

"So, if it’s a physical game that we need to bring, to win, I hope the guys can recognize that.

"If it’s a positionally sound game, [we should recognize] that also…there’s different ways that you can play, and they can play almost any way you want to play," he said.

Fine tuning Finley"Yah, I’ve talked to him," said Coach when asked if he had gotten to know his new back up. "Next week, we have back to back games and three games in four nights, so there is a definite chance that he will get into a game. You know he’s only had a couple of practices and we didn’t have a full practice yesterday, but I see him feeling a little more comfortable."

For his part, Finley wore a big smile after practice today and seems to have moved right in.

Brian also showed me a flak jacket that he wears during practice to defend his body against errant practice shots -- but he does not wear it during games.

Tim’s Tuned In"You know you are going to get lots of shots every time you play these guys," said Thomas. "I’m just going to go out and try to play the way that I’ve been able to play against them every time.

Lifetime vs. Ottawa, Thomas is 3-1-1 with a 1.97 GAA in 5 games. He earned his first NHL shutout with a 5-0 win vs. Ottawa on Jan. 30, 2006.

"The game individually is big," he said. "But it’s bigger in the overall picture of where we need to start getting to.

"At this point, every game is big…if we were to win three games in a row, the fourth game would be big because we need to keep going."

For those of you who care, and there are plenty of you, Tim will wear the Black & Gold model he has worn since the Hall asked for the one pictured in yesterday’s blog. He said he switched back for a bit because the paint was cracked on the gold one -- he showed me where a big chunk had been gouged out.

"I don’t think it is down to the shell," he said, indicating that it was not the type of problem that Toivonen had encountered with his Slap Shot model where the fiberglass had frayed.

Mara Musings"Well, our senators are Ted Kerry and John Kerry," said Paul Mara when asked about ’the Senators.’

"Sorry about that," he said, with a chuckle, to break the gloom in the room. "I thought you were looking for info about our U.S. senators."

Ba-da-bump.

"The OTTAWA SENATORS, they have a great team over there," he said, getting serious. "They are great up front -- Heatley, Spezza, Alfredsson, maybe the top two-three forwards in the league, arguably. And the on the back end [the are strong], with Phillips and Redden, and a couple of the other guys, they have a strong team.

"We came out and went against them last time here at home and we’re hoping we can repeat that tonight," said Mara.

I also asked Paul about the trade rumors floating around that had him going here and there.

"You know trade rumors are part of the business and part of the game," said Mara. "Until you hear it from the source, the general manager of the team…you have to take them for what they are worth and just go play hard.